


turn on the ghost light

by everythingFangirl



Series: so call me when the world looks bleak (dream smp oneshots) [1]
Category: Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Betrayal, Canon Compliant, Character Study, Dream SMP Season 1, Friendship, Gen, One Shot, Post-Betrayal, Redemption
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-01
Updated: 2021-02-01
Packaged: 2021-03-12 18:28:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,895
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29140050
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/everythingFangirl/pseuds/everythingFangirl
Summary: Niki finds it far too easy to like Eret.But they're only enemies in a war already long-forgotten. So why does it matter if she does?There's a storm brewing on the horizon. Neither of them saw it coming until it was already too late.
Relationships: Eret & Niki | Nihachu, No Romantic Relationship(s)
Series: so call me when the world looks bleak (dream smp oneshots) [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1966438
Comments: 8
Kudos: 45





	turn on the ghost light

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote most of this a WHILE back, I believe a few days after the election back in September, so timeline-wise it's somewhat outdated. I still like the writing and the premise though, so I decided to post it anyway. Hope you enjoy!
> 
> Title is from the song Clean Slated State by The Altogether.

"I've come to reclaim my stolen goods."

It feels strange to be back within the walls of L'Manberg, to see everyone else joking and laughing together as they slowly tear down the old van. Completely fine without him, like that wound’s already healed. Completely at ease, completely happy.

That is, until they hear his voice.

Four pairs of eyes turn towards Eret; Tubbo's widen in surprise for a moment before settling into uneasy contempt, while Tommy simply glowers, resentment etched onto his face. He sees two new faces, too, new recruits ~~that they’ve already replaced him with~~ : one that he recognizes as Jack Manifold, the young man with eyes covered by 3D glasses, who quickly averts his gaze and shoves a book back into Tommy's hands while muttering excuses; and the other, a stranger to him. A woman, blonde, enchanted pickaxe in hand.

She’s the only one not looking at him with some measure of distrust or fear. Just simple curiosity.

Wilbur emerges from the remnants of the van and turns to Eret, eyes narrowing in hatred. "What's he doing here?"

Eret holds his hands up in a gesture of peace. "Tommy's returning my stuff to me. I won't be long."

Wilbur lowers his hand from his hotbar, where Eret could bet a blade lies within easy reach. "That's... fine. As long as you get out quickly." His voice is cold.

Tommy shoves the books into Eret's hands a little too forcefully, then turns back without a second glance, returning to his work. Eret takes one more look at the group in a vain hope for any sort of recognition; only Wilbur's still staring at him, a threat in his eyes.

And the woman. Their eyes only meet for a moment, before she hastily turns back to chipping at a block of stone with her pickaxe, but... it's more than any of the others have deigned to give him.

Eret turns to leave.

Behind him, he hears a voice, softly tinged with an accent he can't quite place. "Who was that?"

"Eret. He's a traitorous bastard. I wouldn't associate with him if I were you, Niki."

Eret's almost disappointed at the twinge of regret that runs through her, hearing her old ~~friend's~~ commander's words. What else did she expect? This is what she signed up for, the moment she shook hands with Dream. Resentment and isolation.

~~She supposes it's all she deserves~~

Eret pushes away the thought before it can overwhelm her again. She's got exactly what she wanted. She's got Dream's riches, she has power over the SMP, she's the king! She's the king, and that's all that matters.

~~Isn't it?~~

~~Because when they laugh without him inside those walls, when Tubbo almost, almost reaches out but Tommy shuts him down before he can even say a word, when the new woman laughs at their mockery of him, when Wilbur defers him to Jack as their new ambassador and denounces him in their anthem and spits that he never wants to hear Eret’s voice again, he can’t deny it hurts.~~

But ~~he brought this upon himself~~ he’s made his choice. ~~He can’t go back~~ It’s not one he regrets.

~

Niki knew that leaving the walls of L'Manberg during the night would be a dangerous idea, even with all of the equipment Wilbur and his boys had generously offered her. But the allure of fresh loot and gunpowder had been too much to pass up, which is how she'd found herself right in the middle of a knot of mobs, hacking away with her sword in a desperate attempt to break through before they overwhelm her.

She hears the hiss behind her, and barely has time to react before -

The _thunk_ of an arrow, and the creeper collapses, dissolving into smoke.

She tries to turn to her rescuer, but is only brought face-to-face with another zombie. A quick _slash_ of her sword dispatches it, while a second arrow takes out yet another monster next to her. She knocks a skeleton's head off its shoulders, twists to her right at the sound of the final zombie's groan -

A sword pierces through it from behind.

The creature disappears in a puff of smoke. A man stands behind it.

And Niki's heart drops.

Her eyes flit across the red fabric of his coat, the heavy, bejeweled crown on his head, her gaze finally resting on her own reflection in his sunglasses.

Eret. The traitor.

Instinctively, she takes a step back, tightening her grip on her sword -

Only, when she looks at him again, she recognizes her own apprehension mirrored on his face, even behind those glasses. He's just as surprised to see her as she is to see him.

Wilbur's words echo through Niki's mind again. _He's a traitorous bastard. I wouldn't associate with him if I were you._ She should turn away, she should leave, get as far away from this man as possible, get home...

But he saved her.

She sees the way his fingers twitch on the handle of his sword, how his legs are poised to run. They look at each other, the silence between them a bowstring pulled taut, ready to snap at any second -

And Niki makes a choice.

It's almost a whisper. "Thank you."

Eret looks at her for a moment, unreadable... then smiles, though hesitantly, dropping his sword back into his inventory. Niki mirrors him.

"Are you alright?" he asks, and, yes, it does sound like genuine concern.

“Yes,” Niki responds, wincing at how unsteady her voice still sounds. “Yes, I’m okay,” she tries again. “Are you?” It seems like the polite thing to ask, so she does.

Eret just smiles. “Not a scratch.”

“That’s good.” Niki gives him a smile too. For a moment, they just stand there, studying each other. Niki can’t quite make out Eret’s expression through those shades. What should she even say? Just a moment ago, she thought this person would kill her, and now they’re just standing in an amicable but somewhat awkward silence. “You’re a very good fighter.”

“You held up pretty well yourself in there,” Eret responds, tone becoming more jovial. He gives her a conspiratorial smirk, lowers his glasses just a little -

His eyes are white. Completely blank white. A chill runs down Niki’s spine.

“If you ever feel like betraying L’Manberg and joining our side, I’d gladly welcome you to the Dream SMP.”

Oh, shit. Niki takes a step back, finds her hand twitching back to her hotbar. “N-no thank you,” she responds, hating the way her voice shakes. She draws in a breath, tries to steady herself. “No,” she tries again. “But I appreciate the offer.”

Eret looks at her for a moment… then laughs, a warm and amicable sound. When he pushes his glasses back up again, it’s almost like any trace of the traitorous king is gone entirely, replaced by just… Eret, Niki supposes.

Oh.

A joke. It was a joke.

“Understandable,” Eret quips, and Niki can’t help but smile a little too. “But our doors are always open.”

“I’ll keep it in mind.”

The first rays of the sun peek over the horizon. Both of them turn to face the sunrise, as the last remaining mobs in the distance begin to burn.

“I think this is where we part ways,” Eret says. “Will you be alright?”

“Yes, I will.” The walls of L’Manberg aren’t that far away. “Thank you for your help.”

“No problem…” Eret hesitates, frowning. “Prime, I don’t even think I know your name.”

Niki opens her mouth to speak, but the words get caught in her throat, just for a moment. Is it worth it?

...does it matter?

She smiles. “Niki. Niki Nihachu.”

Eret grins back at her. “Well, it’s been a pleasure to meet you, Niki. I hope I’ll see you around.”

And against all odds, Niki finds that she can’t bring herself to disagree with him. 

“Yes. Me too.”

~

And do keep seeing each other after that, passing by on the Prime Path or bumping into each other while mining in the Nether. Every now and then, one of them hesitantly throws out a joke and the other bounces it right back, always dissolving into laughter sooner or later. Or even working side-by-side, just talking… Niki has to admit, it can be nice to get a break from the chaos and screaming of L’Manberg and Wilbur’s boys.

Maybe, eventually, those meetings stop being coincidences.

It’s far too easy to like Eret. Far, far too easy.

But… even if she’s an enemy, even if she’s a traitor, even if every time Wilbur says her name his voice drips with venom… does it matter, really? They’re in a time of peace. L’Manberg’s _won._ They won even before Niki arrived here, despite Eret’s betrayal, despite everything. And in all the time Niki’s known her, she’s been nothing but kind, nothing but companionable.

They’re only enemies in a war already long-forgotten. A war that’s far too easy to forget when they’re baking cakes, or naming her pet fox, or just chatting for hours as Eret builds her castle. So what does it matter?

What is there left to fight about?

~

Just because Niki’s kind, just because she’s optimistic, doesn’t mean she’s naïve.

But she didn’t see the coming storm until it was already upon them.

~

She’s running.

She can’t quite hear whether the footsteps behind her have stopped, whether the rain of arrows thudding into the ground has stopped, but she keeps running anyway.

The walls are gone. The walls are gone, and Wilbur and Tommy are gone, and L’Manberg, and _Schlatt_ , and, and -

She feels the tears welling up in the corners of her eyes and angrily wipes them away. There’s no time to cry. There’s no time for anything at all, really.

When she throws her hundredth glance behind her and sees that she’s finally alone, she wastes a few precious moments to collapse against a tree trunk, catch her breath, and rifle through her inventory for anything edible. As she tears into a loaf of bread, she weighs her options.

Where could she go, what could she possibly do? She could retreat back to the bakery and stay there like a good little citizen of ~~Manberg~~ L’Manberg, which is an option she dismisses as soon as it comes to her mind. No, she won’t stand still and let this happen. She could retreat into the forest and try to find Wilbur again, but would she be of any use there? Would another mouth to feed simply hinder them? Wouldn’t she make more of a difference staying here, close to that tyrant, preparing for Wilbur’s return?

 _You won’t make any difference at all,_ some traitorous part of her brain screams, _you’re just one person, one little person who couldn’t even do anything when your friends were hunted down and as your other friends betrayed them. What could you possibly do?_

Maybe she is crying now. She feels the tears sliding down her cheeks, dripping onto the muddied, worn boots of her uniform. Isn’t that uniform meaningless, now, anyway?

What could she possibly do?

Just for a minute, she allows herself to cry. She mourns, for everything they’ve lost today, for everything they’re still yet to lose.

But, no. There’s no time to pity herself, not now. She runs her sleeve across her face, draws herself back to her full height, raises her chin. There’s only time for action. She has to act.

But where would she go? Who -

"Niki?"

She spins around to face her assailant, sword dropping into her hand, before she realizes she recognizes that voice.

"Eret."

Their crown is askew, a sheen of sweat on their brow. There’s nothing in their hands, no sign of the crossbow they’d held as Schlatt and his cronies cornered her, held her behind bars, taunted her -

Eret smiles, hesitantly. But Niki only tightens her grip on her sword.

He’d pledged himself to Schlatt, hadn’t he? Stood by while he took over their L’Manberg, as Wilbur and Tommy were driven to exile, and the walls that _he’d_ built were torn down, as Niki -

_These walls were built to keep your people safe. I’ll be the first to warn you that you’re lining up for a second war._

George aimed a crossbow at her, and Eret stood between them.

Quackity freed her, and Eret let her go.

And Niki is so, so tired.

The sword disappears from her hand.

"Thank you,” she almost whispers.

Those words snap the silence between them. Eret jolts into action, pacing around her, speaking frantically.

"Niki, we're the last ones left. Everyone's either turned or scattered outside the borders, but we have to do something! I tried to offer Wilbur and Tommy my help, but they still don't trust me, but you…” They stop, abruptly, and turn to face her. “I know you're strong enough to make a difference. I want to help you."

"I…” And Niki wants so, so badly to take that offer, to trust them, and yet, and yet,

They pledged themself to Schlatt, they’ve betrayed them all before, L’Manberg can’t afford yet another traitor, _I wouldn't associate with him if I were you,_

“I don’t know if I can trust you,” Niki breathes.

Because the safety of L’Manberg must come first, because, because,

Because Jack, because Tubbo...

_Fundy…_

“I don’t know if I can trust anyone.”

Eret’s expression softens. And they take off their glasses.

"I know. I betrayed Wilbur, and that was the greatest mistake I could have made. I built those walls with my own hands, Niki, and... now Schlatt's tearing down everything we've worked for, and he’s going to try to expand into my lands. He’s going to throw the entire SMP into chaos. He can't get away with this."

_These walls were built to keep your people safe. I’ll be the first to warn you that you’re lining up for a second war._

_Maybe I am, Eret. Maybe I am._

"You're right. He can't."

Niki looks into those blank white eyes, and finds that she’s no longer afraid of them.

The safety of L’Manberg must come first. And they’re going to need all the help they can get.

"Eret."

"Niki?"

"You’re right. There's nobody else who can do this. We have to act.”

She doesn’t smile. But, for the first time in hours, through the rage, the fear, the grim determination that had clustered in her mind ever since Schlatt stepped on that stage, something else shines through.

Hope.

“And it would be nice to have a friend by my side."

~

Later, Eret will no longer remember what he’s doing when he hears her scream.

He’ll only know that he’s running, when that piercing, heart-wrenching cry of _No!_ reaches his ears, tears right through him. He’s dashing back towards her before he even stops to think.

“No! Eret, no!”

“What?”

Images flash through his mind, Schlatt’s maniacal grin, Tubbo’s night-black suit, Fundy’s words to him, Fundy’s -

He sees it right as he reaches her.

The flag. The scorched fabric, the orange and red flaring up towards the sky, the roaring sound of the, the,

The shout of “No!” rips out of his throat as he charges forward, already rifling through his inventory for something, _anything_ ,

The flag is burning.

_The flag is burning._

“Fundy, you bastard!”

He hears Niki’s sobs behind him as he rushes up the flagpole, bucket of water right within reach in his hotbar. When he reaches the top, so much of it is already gone. He tries to do what he can, salvage what’s left, but the fire’s already done its job. It’s too late.

When the last flames have been extinguished, he lands at the bottom of the flagpole, defeated. Niki’s still standing right where she was, hands over her mouth. Hesitantly, he walks to her. The pain of watching your creation be reduced to nothing is a pain he can understand, he thinks bitterly.

“Thank you, Eret,” she murmurs, still staring at her remnants of her work. And then there’s nothing. There’s nothing he can do except stand beside her. There’s nothing he can do except be there, looking over the land that he no longer recognizes.

When Niki speaks again, there’s something else in her voice he can’t quite place. “I trusted him. I ran for President with him! And he betrayed us! How could he?”

“I don’t know.”

There’s a million things he wants to say, to comfort her, reassure her, to just explain, and yet he finds no words for it.

_This is too far. Why, Fundy? Why?_

Eret glances back at Niki, just for a moment. He almost reaches out, just to touch her shoulder, give her any semblance of comfort he can still offer -

But he hesitates.

Because the tears in her eyes aren’t of grief.

They’re of rage. Restless, remorseless, the ice creeping into her voice hiding an inferno that will stop at nothing until Schlatt and his empire are burned to the ground. And Eret has no doubt that she will.

“They’re going to pay for this.”

And in that moment, Eret promises themself they'll do anything to make sure that’s true. No more betrayals, no more lies. They won’t fall again. They'll stand by her.

“They will.”

_Fundy, my friend…_

_I hope this plan of yours is worth it._


End file.
